Bee-ing Seen. Logo Illustration for the Greater Manchester Fringe

The Greater Manchester Fringe wanted a new logo for their festival and I was only too happy to oblige. The brief to create a bee illustration, the bee being a popular symbol of Manchester. This year they wanted a female bee, and were open to new ideas.

I started by looking at the original logo as I always want to respect previous versions. I wanted to keep some brand recognition to, even though we did move radically away from what was done previously. Thinking it though for look and feel I sketched out a lot of ideas. I didn’t want it to look like a children’s illustration – not too cute, but also not too exaggerated either, keeping to the shape of a bee as much as possible.

The mascot had to be interpretation, but not too broad. It’s representing the festival and shows that can be anything from comedy, drama or poetry. I noticed the previous illustration had a microphone and I consciously took that out as its more a music and stand up comedy device, but not something you’d see in live theatre.

You can maybe accuse me of overthinking it – but it’s my job to overthink it, and make sure that the final result can be used effectively. As for the character, she doesn’t have a name yet but I think the guys at the Manchester Fringe Festival I working on that right now.

Illustration design for the Greater Manchester Fringe

ADDITIONAL – 4/06/2018

So back in late April I was asked to draw the new bee mascot logo for the Greater Manchester Fringe. (The Bee is the symbol of Manchester) Oddly enough I’d already started drawing a bee for the fringe. Not intentionally. It started as a procrastination doodle while I was meant to be working on my show, and just took me ages and ages to finish as I wanted to represent as much as I could in it.

The Art of Communication

John Cooper, Comedian & Improviser. Public speaking workshops and training for UK businesses. Dealing with public speaking nerves and providing confident focus through unique and entertaining workshops